2021 has been another challenging year for our country, but ICAP continues to strategically advocate in and out of the courts to protect constitutional rights in the face of increasing political polarization and threats to American democracy. Our work has paid off with a string of successes we are grateful to share:
In Trump v. Thompson, we scored two important victories as co-counsel for the House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. First, the District Court denied the former president’s effort to prevent the National Archivist from turning over White House records relating to the attack. The court rejected Trump’s executive privilege claims, which were not supported by President Biden and which were outweighed by the Select Committee’s strong need for the records. After highly expedited briefing and argument on Trump’s appeal to the D.C. Circuit, that court unanimously affirmed the District Court, writing:
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What Mr. Trump seeks is to have an Article III court intervene and nullify those judgments of the President and Congress, delay the Committee’s work, and derail the negotiations and accommodations that the Political Branches have made. But essential to the rule of law is the principle that a former President must meet the same legal standards for obtaining preliminary injunctive relief as everyone else. And former President Trump has failed that task.
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We’ll be busy over the holidays on this case, as we expect Trump to seek Supreme Court review on December 23.
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Statue of Liberty replica, located adjacent to the Gary Municipal Building in Gary, Indiana
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In other important wins, after nearly four years of defending the City of Gary, Indiana’s “welcoming city ordinance” against a challenge that it violates the state’s anti-sanctuary-city law, the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld most of the operative provisions of the city’s ordinance, which aims to build trust between public officials and immigrant communities. We also defeated a motion to dismiss a First Amendment retaliation claim against a police detective who brought unsupported felony charges against two protesters who posted a photo of a police officer at a 2020 racial justice demonstration, seeking to identify the officer. ICAP’s expertise in policing and First Amendment rights led to our recently becoming expert consultants to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in an investigation into the Phoenix Police Department.
ICAP’s Supreme Court practice also scored a significant victory when the Court denied certiorari in a case involving undocumented minors, allowing their class action challenge to inadequate mental health care in a juvenile detention center to move forward. The children held in the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Detention Center were there after fleeing horrors in their native countries, including Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and El Salvador.
ICAP’s busy fall has also included criminal and prison reform efforts – some of which are featured in a new book by Tony Messenger: Profit and Punishment: How America Criminalizes the Poor in the Name of Justice. We’ve stood up for those who have been subject to predatory fines and fees in Oklahoma, represented a woman whose grandson committed suicide while in a particularly harsh form of solitary confinement, and represented a detainee who was assaulted by a prison guard when he was in restraints.
We also brought the voices of over 100 current and former prosecutors, law enforcement, and Department of Justice officials together in support of continuing the DACA program, describing how it builds trust with communities and helps protect public safety by bringing immigrants out of the shadows. And we garnered publicity in our case against the New Mexico Civil Guard after we filed a petition to enforce a subpoena served on Facebook for basic subscriber information of removed militia accounts that would allow us to link incriminating Facebook posts to the defendants in the case. Our successful injunction against Oklahoma’s anti-protest law also gained new recognition in coverage of the disturbing trend of anti-protest legislation across the country.
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Continuing our efforts to inform and educate on political violence and militia violent extremism, ICAP’s Executive Director Mary McCord will be participating in an event on the evolution and challenge of domestic extremism hosted by DFRLabs and New America on January 6. Mary also was a guest on the “extremely” podcast with the Anti-Defamation League’s Oren Segal and was quoted in Just Security’s in-depth look at the omission of the extremist social media site “The Donald” in criminal cases related to the January 6 attack.
ICAP’s team has also continued to participate in numerous public discussions on matters of public concern, including Mary and Supreme Court Director Kelsi Brown Corkran speaking at a discussion on Executive Branch reform co-hosted by ICAP, Checks & Balances, and the Presidential Reform Project; ICAP Senior Counsel Annie Owens discussing Executive Branch oversight and accountability on a panel hosted by the American Constitution Society; Mary analyzing the Supreme Court argument in an important Second Amendment case for a panel hosted by Duke Law; and pro bono senior fellow Amy Marshak moderating a panel on Gender at the post-Ginsburg Court as part of the Georgetown Law Journal’s Volume 110 Symposium. Kelsi also gave reflections at the ABA Women In Litigation Conference about her experience clerking for Justice Ginsburg and made a presentation to the National Police Accountability Project membership about strategies for effectively litigating civil rights cases before the Supreme Court.
In staffing news, we are looking forward to welcoming Alex Aronson as ICAP’s new Managing Director on January 4. Alex most recently served as Chief Counsel to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and brings a wealth of valuable experience to our team!
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Finally, a huge THANK YOU to the many of you who have made gifts to ICAP this year! Your generosity allows us to continue working to ensure that people can have renewed confidence in the integrity of their governmental institutions into 2022 and beyond. And if you haven’t made a gift this year, please consider it! For instructions, please click here.
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Keep up with ICAP on Twitter via @GeorgetownICAP; and suggest what we should take on next via reachICAP@georgetown.edu.
With thanks for your continued support, The ICAP Team.
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